Page images
PDF
EPUB

accidents in nature; of striking con trasts in form, colour, and light and shadow: sun-beams bursting through a small opening in a dark wood-a rainbow against a stormy sky-effects of thunder and lightning-torrents rolling down trees torn up by the roots, and the dead bodies of men and animals-are among the sublime and picturesque circumstances exhibited by his daring pencil. These sudden gleams, these cataracts of light, these bold oppositions of clouds and darkness which he has so nobly introduced, would destroy all the beauty and elegance of Claude: on the other hand, the mild and equal sunshine of that charming painter, would as ill accord with the twisted and singular forms, and the bold and animated variety of the landscapes of Rubens*.

*The distinct characters and effects of light and shadow on the great face of nature, which have been imitated by Rubens and by Claude, may not unaptly be compared to the no less distinct characters and effects of smiles on the human countenance: nothing is so captivating, or seems so much to accord with our ideas of beauty, as the

If the general brilliancy and dazzling effects of that splendid painter, may justly be opposed to the more mild diffusion

smiles of a beautiful countenance; yet they have sometimes a striking mixture of an other character. Of this kind are those smiles which break out suddenly from a serious, sometimes from almost a severe countenance, and which, when that gleam is over, leave no trace of it behind

Brief as the lightning in the collied night,

That in a spleen unfolds both heaven and earth;
And e'er a man has time to say, behold!

The jaws of darkness do devour it up.

This sudden effect is often hinted at by the Italian poets, as appears by their allusion to the most sudden and dazzling of lights ;--gli scintilla un riso-lampeggia un riso-il balenar' d'un riso.

There is another smile, which seems in the same degree to accord with the ideas of beauty only. It is that smile which proceeds from a mind full of sweetness and sensibility, and which, when it is over, still leaves on the countenance its mild and amiable impression; as after the sun is set, the mild glow of his rays is still diffused over every object. This smile, with the glow that accompanies it, is beautifully painted by Milton, as most becoming an inhabitant of heaven.

To whom the angel, with a smile that glow'd
Celestial rosy red, love's proper hue,

Thus answer'd.

of light in Claude and Correggio, the deep midnight shadows which Rembrandt has spread over the greater part of his canvas, may be opposed to it with equal justice; and the whole of the comparison between these painters may serve to shew, how much the picturesque delights in extremes, while the beautiful preserves a just medium between them. The general character of Rembrant's pictures is that of extreme force, arising from a small portion of light amidst surrounding darkness; and though it be true that Rubens and Correggio, and even Claude, have produced effects of that kind, yet it was only occasionally, and where the subject, as in night scenes, required them; whereas in Rembrant they result from his prevailing principle: and it hardly need be said, how much more they are suited to objects and circumstances of a picturesque, than a beautiful character. Rembrant's pencilling, where it is most apparent (for he well knew where to soften it) is no less different from that of the painters I have mentioned, than the principle on

which he wrought; his colours seem, as it were, dabbed on the canvass; and one might suppose them to have been worked upon it with some coarser instrument than a painter's brush. Many painters indeed when they represent any striking effect of light, leave the touches of the pencil more rough and strongly marked, than the quality of the objects themselves seems to justify; but Rembrandt, who succeeded beyond all others in these forcible effects, carried also this method of creating them further than any other master. Those who have seen his famous picture in the Stadthouse at Amsterdam, may remember a figure highly illuminated, whose dress is a silver tissue, with fringes, tassels, and other ornaments, nearly of the same brilliant colour: it is the most surprising instance I ever saw of the effect of that rough manner of pencilling, in producing what most nearly approaches to the glitter and to the irritation which is caused by real light, when acting powerfully on any object; and this too with a due attention to general har

mony, and with such a commanding truth of representation, as no high finishing can give*.

* The following anecdote of Sir Joshua Reynolds, which a friend of mine heard from a pupil of his who was present at the scene, will serve as a further illustration of the subject; and I trust will not be unacceptable to the reader. This pupil going one day into Sir Joshua's painting room, found him in a state of perplexing contemplation; he had been endeavouring to produce a glitter on a piece of splendid drapery, which occupied a very interesting situation in the centre of the eye of his picture, and never could do it to his mind: he tried again and again; rubbed it out; took snuff with unusual energy, but all would not do. He now looked for some time despondingly on the picture, playing with a large hog's brush which he held in his hand: at length he began to move backwards towards the chimney with his brush behind him, till his heel kicked the fender; when stooping sideways, he thrust the brush into the ashes and cinders. His face then assumed a look of hope mixed with exultation, and having just wiped off a portion of the cinders on the carpet, he advanced towards his work, and grouted on the remains of them upon the part where he wished the brilliancy to be produced, crying out with a triumphant air, "that will do."

His object, which was accomplished by a kind of instinct, seems to have been this; to lay on such a ground for the reception of the proper colours, as by facing the

« PreviousContinue »